Synchronized Driving
New technology is being developed that might make some seemingly unavoidable accidents a thing of the past.
How does it work? The cars “talk” to each other, transmitting information gathered by various sensors (cameras, GPS and radar systems) about speed, distance, obstacles, etc. This allows the cars to react cooperatively to an obstacle or situation that will affect one or all of them.
Say you’re on the highway, and a ladder falls off a truck in front of you. You can’t swerve, because there are cars on either side of you. With this technology, the cars would be sending information back and forth, and could make a coordinated move to help you avoid the ladder and avoid an accident altogether.
Cars talking and making decisions together? Pretty neat and futuristic, but also a little creepy…
Similar technology is also being developed that alerts drivers about certain driving conditions (red lights, weather problems, obstacles) by flashing signs on a screen on the car’s dashboard.